Publication Date
1989
Description
Previously underutilized lowlands in tropical America are increasingly being used to produce meat and milk largely due to Brachiaria Griseb., an introducea genus of East African grass. Brachiaria is well adapted to infertile, acidic soils with high aluminium saturation. It is estimated than 16 million hectares have been planted to B. decumbens Stapf and B. humidicola (Rendle) Schweick in Latin America (Toledo and Nores, 1986). The various genera and species of spittlebugs native to the neotropics are the principal biotic factor limiting utilization of Brachiaria as forage in Latin America. Spittlebugs are capable of causing severe damage to susceptible grasses thebery reducing forage availability and quality and hastening pasture degradation due to weed invasion. Attempts to screen a limited collection of Brachiaria accessions in the field have been plagued by low, sporadic, and focal infestations of spittlebugs. Development of an adequate system for rearing all stages of spittlebug (Lapointe et al., in press) has facilitated systematic glasshouse screening of a large collection of Brachiaria accessions from Africa. The technique has been used to characterize host plant resistance in some Brachiaria accessions (Ferrufino and Lapointe, in press). We report here complementary techniques for rapid evaluation of large numbers of grass accessions in the glasshouse for antibiosis and tolerance, and for evaluating resistance in field collections.
Citation
Lapointe, L; Arango, G; and Sotelo, G, "A Methodology for Evaluation of Host Plant Resistance in Brachiaria to Spittlebug Species (Homoptera: Cercipidae)" (2025). IGC Proceedings (1989-2023). 21.
https://uknowledge.uky.edu/igc/1989/session6/21
Included in
Agricultural Science Commons, Agronomy and Crop Sciences Commons, Plant Biology Commons, Plant Pathology Commons, Soil Science Commons, Weed Science Commons
A Methodology for Evaluation of Host Plant Resistance in Brachiaria to Spittlebug Species (Homoptera: Cercipidae)
Previously underutilized lowlands in tropical America are increasingly being used to produce meat and milk largely due to Brachiaria Griseb., an introducea genus of East African grass. Brachiaria is well adapted to infertile, acidic soils with high aluminium saturation. It is estimated than 16 million hectares have been planted to B. decumbens Stapf and B. humidicola (Rendle) Schweick in Latin America (Toledo and Nores, 1986). The various genera and species of spittlebugs native to the neotropics are the principal biotic factor limiting utilization of Brachiaria as forage in Latin America. Spittlebugs are capable of causing severe damage to susceptible grasses thebery reducing forage availability and quality and hastening pasture degradation due to weed invasion. Attempts to screen a limited collection of Brachiaria accessions in the field have been plagued by low, sporadic, and focal infestations of spittlebugs. Development of an adequate system for rearing all stages of spittlebug (Lapointe et al., in press) has facilitated systematic glasshouse screening of a large collection of Brachiaria accessions from Africa. The technique has been used to characterize host plant resistance in some Brachiaria accessions (Ferrufino and Lapointe, in press). We report here complementary techniques for rapid evaluation of large numbers of grass accessions in the glasshouse for antibiosis and tolerance, and for evaluating resistance in field collections.
